Battlefield
by Hedwig49
Summary: "Draco Malfoy, you idiot!" It doesn't sound as reproachful as she had intended. He just smirks. "Missed me, have you?"


**A/N: Hey! Thanks for giving my story a shot. This is my first fanfic. Well, technically it's not. I posted this story more than a year ago under the name 'We Can't Make It" but I took it down because I didn't like it. This chapter is pretty short but to be honest it's more like an introduction. Hope you like it!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

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Heather eyed the letter in front of her. It was, as Professor Minerva McGonagall had explained, an acceptance letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

It had been quite a shock to find out she was witch. She had always known that she was not ordinary. As the Professor had pointed out when she came to deliver her letter yesterday, unexplainable things happened around her when she was upset or angry. Once a bully had picked on her in preschool. He had been a giant in comparison to her, but when he had tried to steal her lunch, an invisible force had hurled him to the other end of the room. Another time, when she was a little older, she had broken the TV screen. Somehow, it mended itself just before her father found out. And most recently, she had _un_ intentionally caused her teacher's shoes to embarrass her. Even her father knew that she was different. Still, the involvement of magic had been beyond the wildest imaginations of both.

Not that Heather wasn't excited. She had grown up listening to fairy tales as bedtime stories, and figured that this was probably the best thing that ever happened to her.

She reread the letter for what was probably the millionth time.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Ms. Ashtree,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

The next page consisted of a list of supplies. According to Professor McGonagall, someone from the school would be sent to take Heather and her father, along with other Muggleborns, to a place called Diagon Alley next week to get these supplies.

"Heather Ashtree, get down here this instant!"

Heather grimaced. Her father sounded angry, which meant that he had found out about one of Heather's pranks. The only thing that came to her mind at the moment was the incident regarding Mrs Green and her shoes. She was going to be scolded even though she hadn't done anything wrong. At least, not on purpose. School tended to be rather boring and she, like any other sane person, had wished for something exciting to happen. All she had done was to think of how hilarious it would be if Mrs Green's stilettos elongated.

She hadn't exactly meant to do it (on second thought, she had). At that time, she didn't even think it was humanely possible. Now of course, she knew it _was_ possible and she _had_ done it. Her heels did multiply in size, which caused her to trip over in front of the whole class. In retrospect, it might have been a little humiliating for Mrs Green, but Heather, along with her classmates, had found it entertaining enough. And it served her right for giving less marks to the kids she didn't like in the tests she took.

"Didn't you hear me?" her father shouted.

"Coming!" she called as she trudged down the stairs and entered her father's orderly, spotless kitchen, where he was making breakfast. His red hair, the only resemblance between him and his daughter, was dishevelled.

She put on her best _'I'm-innocent'_ face. "Morning, Dad!"

"Young lady," he began as he added toast to her plate. "Mr Lewis's son says that a strange incident occurred at school on Monday last week. Mrs Green, who is coincidentally your least favourite teacher, tripped because her stiletto heels tripled in length."

"I didn't do anything, I swear!" It took some effort to keep a straight face, because inside, she was fuming. Of course it was Mr Lewis who told him. And it was just like his son, Erin, to go babbling on about all the details of school. Her father knew about fairly few of her intentional pranks in school, but the ones he did know about were because of Erin. He was almost three years older than her, but _all_ he ever did was tell on her. It had become less frequent ever since he had started going to some boarding school, but he now paid Heather's classmates to find out about anything she had done in school, just so he could have his father tell hers. It was, as he put it, his way of entertaining himself during the summer holidays. And the Christmas holidays. And the Easter holidays. She was mildly surprised that her father was hearing about this particular incident today. Erin's reporting skills were getting rusty if it took him a whole week to weave new tales against her.

Though those tales were never exactly false.

"I highly doubt there is any other witch in your school. You're grounded for the next two weeks."

"What? But Dad, you can't—"

He gave her that look which parents used to say _'I'm the boss here, not the other way round, so shut up.'_ "You should be glad it's only two weeks, not the entire summer holidays." He gestured towards her plate. "Eat."

Heather scowled as she sat down on the kitchen table and began to eat. Even her favourite breakfast couldn't cheer her up. She had been grounded for the second _and_ third weeks of summer holidays, all because of Erin. Her father left the kitchen, probably to get dressed. He had plans to go out with some colleagues today. He usually stayed home every weekend, so Heather had to literally force him to hang out with his friends very once in a while. She finished quickly and washed her plate.

Initially, he hadn't been very keen to let her attend Hogwarts. He wanted proof that magic existed. Professor McGonagall had had to morph into a tabby cat to convince him (which Heather thought was extremely cool and couldn't wait to do herself, until she was told that it was very complex magic and only a handful of witches and wizards were capable of doing it.) She wondered if her mother, who had died when she was four, would also have been as hesitant. But then again, Professor McGonagall had mentioned that there was a possibility of her mother being a witch as well. In other words, no one knew for sure if Heather was a halfblood or a Muggleborn.

Maybe, if she was alive, she wouldn't have grounded her.

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 **A/N: How was it? Please review and let me know. Oh, and Draco would probably make an appearance in the next chapter.**


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